Local officials are concerned about an erosion of service in Burlington
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington will no longer deliver babies beginning next summer, shifting that service exclusively to Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn.
While Aurora’s Burlington hospital and clinic will continue to provide prenatal, gynecological and other women’s health services, the elimination of the birthing center is a significant departure from the hospital’s long history of providing what many, including Burlington’s mayor, consider a basic service of a community hospital.
“This change is necessary to allow us to provide a sustainable model of care and responsibly manage our resources. We remain firmly committed to providing our high quality level of health care at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington today and into the future,” Vicki Lewis, president of Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington and Aurora Lakeland Medical Center, said in a written statement released to this newspaper Tuesday.
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Lewis declined to further discuss specifics of the change because administrators have not finalized the plans. She asked for patience on the part of the community and said the planning process would be completed in weeks rather than months.
The decision – first relayed to local Aurora employees in an email late last month – has rekindled decade-old fears in the community that Burlington could lose its full-service hospital – or see a significant erosion of service.
“I’m deeply concerned,” Mayor Bob Miller said. “ “We’ve always had a full-service hospital in the community and I see no reason for that to change.
“I will be in contact with Aurora. They’ll be getting a concerned letter with a request for a sit-down meeting to discuss it.”
Consolidation was set
It was approximately a decade ago when Aurora first announced a plan to consolidate the services currently offered at the Burlington and Elkhorn hospitals at a new regional medical center to be built somewhere in the area.
At the time, Burlington officials lobbied Aurora to build the new hospital here. The city – or a parcel immediately adjacent to it – were believed to be among the three sites under consideration for the new hospital.
That plan was shelved as Aurora pursued other markets and proceeded with planned renovations at both Memorial Hospital – including improvements to the birthing center – and Lakeland Medical Center. The non-profit health care provider completed a $30 million renovation of Lakeland last year.
In Burlington, Aurora undertook a series of smaller upgrades and is in the midst of a $3-$4 million renovation of the emergency department. That investment seems to indicate the state’s largest health care system has no intention of abandoning the Burlington area in the near future. But what level of service it maintains here remains to be seen.
Future a mystery
In an interview last April, Lewis said Aurora was committed to remaining the community’s primary health care provider.
“There’s always going to be a clinic and we’re going to perform services here,” she said at the time. “It is a tremendous asset to the community.”
However, she added, “Anything beyond that is pure speculation.”
Miller said he’s determined to ensure the city maintains a full-service medical facility.
“I will not let the city go without a hospital,” he said. “If I have to pull the three competitors together to come up with something, I will.”
Miller was referring to the All Saints of Racine, ProHealth of Waukesha and Mercy Health Systems of Janesville, which bracket the area from the east, north and west, respectively.
Patrick Lynch, a local businessman and member of the Memorial Hospital’s foundation board, said Aurora and the community face difficult decisions when it comes to certain services.
“They may be non-profit,” he said of Aurora, “but like all businesses they’re trying to find ways to operate as efficiently as possible.
“(However,) the hospital is an important part of the community and losing any services is a concern.”
Lynch said he fears Aurora could lose expectant mothers to other health care providers because those in the Burlington area might balk at having to drive Highway 11 – an undivided two-lane highway – in the middle of winter to reach the birthing center.
Mark Finster, an associate professor of business who specializes in the dynamics of health care systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said many systems are concentrating resources that will make them more accountable in the era of the Affordable Care Act.
He also said the lack of significant competition in areas such as Burlington allows dominant providers to make decisions for business reasons rather than community desires.
“That’s what happens – the smaller communities lose choice and access,” he said.
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With a community that is growing younger and younger… does it really make sense to close the birthing dept?
It has nothing to do about care. When Aurora
took over they sent most of the care items to Lakeland, for what.It all about Money. That is why the Doctors sold out for $10,000. When Aurora came to town. So if you dont like it move.
Well, After moving Up here from the Chicagoland Area, yrs back, I could Never understand why so few Living here, Expect to get the same kind of Medical Services that those Larger Populations Get..
Face it .. Their just isn’t Enough People Living out here and Surely and apparently Not Enough INSURED People able to pay the Bills for such Services..
AHC and Mercy came out and Opened all these Places and They Are EMPTY.. Everytime we go? It’s EMPTY
And if you were a Certified Dr. , would you want to work in such a Low pop. area? Getting Less Income? Maybe to start with, but Like so many have, They’ve Left.. We’ve had several of our former Assigned Dr.s leave.. and I can’t Blame them..
Even Lakeland is Out in the middle of Nowhere.. have you Noticed?
And Like most towns around the area, over 50% of the Population isn’t here , 8 mos of the Yr..
A Luxury that cannot be afforded
And will Obama Care ( NHCP) will be forcing the closing of more and More Places as Time Goes By..?
Just had to travel 30 miles to go see a Eye Dr.In Janesville and be charged $250 vs only The same Exam in Milwaukee for only $135..
That Place ( MERCY) was Empty As Well..when we got there and when we left..
Mercy’s West Center in Wms. Bay is also EMPTY most of the time..Nice new Place, but Not enough Here that Needs it..Let alone those with Insurance to Pay to use it.. The cars in the Parking Lot? Mostly Employee’s Cars.. that we could tell.
You can’t be birthin’ no babies here!!
The reality is that there aren’t a lot of OB/GYNs in our community. When there are so few they need to be in a hospital with others. That way they aren’t getting midnight calls every other day and they aren’t getting pulled out of their clinic all the time. It’s the only way that all of their patients can get the service they expect.
Certainly the numbers of births and obstetricians (or lack thereof) are driving Aurora’s decision to close the birthing center. The question remains, however, is Aurora doing enough to market the service and recruit competent OB/GYNs to a community that has expressed a desire to retain this service? Does Aurora have a responsibility to the community to provide marginally profitable services when it eagerly provides the successful ones? I think so. The mission of community health care is a delicate mix of viability vs. service. It seems plenty of people believe Aurora could do more in this instance.
U =All make good Points,
But it Appears to be simple Economics
They are a For Profit Business.. Wether Non Profit or Not, and if they can’t bring enough $ in to pay the Bills and Keep its Staff? Then They have to Shut it down..It’s Not a Gov’t Run For Charity Business.
What Keeps all the other Facilities , be they Aurora or Mercy open , even Individual Dr.’s Offices of Eye and Foot Dr.’s We’ve been too, is beyond me..
If had Kids and going to College Here ( Madison or Milwaukee? I would be doing like Past Graduates..
Leaving the State and going were the higher End Jobs are..Th Boarder Counties of Wi. have More Residents Working In Illinois , do they not?
Simple Economics..
The trouble with business people they tend to flock together for support from each other. I know and like Patrick but, he knows nothing about heath care and the heath care buisness .. All Business are not the same as the people are not puppets. That is like saying I was sick one time , and this is the problem. You just dont get it,.. Its all about MONEy and you have it and they want it.
Ever since Aurora was brought into to Burlington years ago, it’s been about their income statement. They don’t give a crap about the community!
I see that the Standard Press censors (edits) these comments. So why bother if they won’t print what people think????
Comments to this website are rarely edited. If so, it is only done to remove profanity, potentially libelous statements, or other objectionable content. Every attempt is made to preserve the original intent of the comment.
I am old enough to have heard from my parents how Memorial Hospital came out as a community effort, and was community-owned. I don’t know how it became Aurora, but I’m sure it was all about the money. It always it. I was born in Memorial, as was my second child. My other child was born in a big-city hospital, and there was no comparison in care or caring. I am sorry to see the end of the birthing center–this is just one more step closer to the “who cares about you?” attitude that seems to have permeated the hospital over the past years. Sad. And our kids wonder why we long for the “good old days!” I just never thought they’d end in Burlington.
Dr Bill Stone helped Aurora come to Burlington, and he was compensated for his Judas Sheep efforts. That’s the truth.